1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for charging a battery provided in a biped walking robot.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a system for charging a battery provided in a mobile body, there has been proposed a charging system (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-341085) for charging a battery of an unmanned carrier vehicle. According to the battery charging system, an unmanned carrier vehicle that runs by detecting a guideline laid along a track is moved to a place where an external power unit is installed. Then, a power receiving coupler provided in the unmanned carrier vehicle is connected to a power feeding coupler provided in the external power unit, thereby supplying power to the unmanned carrier vehicle through a power feeding coupler and a power receiving coupler to charge the battery of the unmanned carrier vehicle.
Further, as a system for charging a mobile robot provided with an imaging device to perform autonomic walking on the basis of imaging data, there has been proposed a charging system (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-125641) for charging a battery at a charging station. According to the charging system, a charging station for charging a battery is installed, and when the battery charge amount of a mobile robot decreases to a predetermined level or less, the mobile robot recognizes the position of the charging station on the basis of imaging data and moves to the charging station so as to charge the battery at the charging station.
As described above, when charging an unmanned carrier vehicle, turning off the power of the unmanned carrier vehicle presents no problem, because the unmanned carrier vehicle is maintained in a stationary state. In the case of a biped walking robot, however, if its power is turned off, then the position retaining operations of the motors of joints are disabled, making it difficult to maintain a standing posture thereof. Furthermore, a biped walking robot is frequently used in a human activity area, so that it is preferred that no spark discharge or noises occur when connecting or disconnecting a power receiving connector and a power feeding connector when charging is carried out.